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Short filmTranscript
00:00Chase has the ball! He's about to hit the pylon! It's going in!
00:07Don't touch me. Get me my phone.
00:10My old knee injury is acting up. The team doctor's meds aren't working.
00:13Bring me the painkillers in my study desk drawer. Now.
00:16Is it really necessary? We've got three team doctors here.
00:19Do you really have to make her come all the way over? It's pouring rain outside.
00:22She owes me.
00:26You sure she didn't buy that nutrition degree online?
00:30Can't even tell a real injury from a fake one.
00:34Man, your acting's wasting football.
00:37Three years and she still hasn't figured it out?
00:40How many times have you made her drive out in the rain for meds now?
00:44I've lost count.
00:4898.
00:49Why, you care about her?
00:51No.
00:52But wasn't she the one your uncle foiled on you?
00:54You think he'd be cool with you messing with her like this?
00:56I heard Chase set down his glass.
00:58A few seconds of silence.
01:00The day Savannah left three years ago she called in sick with a migraine.
01:04His voice was as calm as if he were reading a scouting report.
01:07If she'd shown up, Savannah might not have walked.
01:10This is her punishment.
01:12Game ends at 99.
01:14Outside, I gripped the pill bottle so hard my nails bit into my palm.
01:17For three years, I thought Chase kept me around because he trusted me.
01:21Because he needed me.
01:22He'd made me his personal nutritionist, fine-tuning his supplements, planning every meal's macros,
01:27monitoring his body fat, answering his calls on sleepless nights.
01:31I thought I was special.
01:32I thought he depended on me.
01:34Turns out I was just a name on his revenge list.
01:36That migraine, I'd spent that day curled up on my apartment floor.
01:39In so much pain I couldn't even hold my phone.
01:41I threw up three times before my roommate drove me to the ER.
01:45Chase never asked.
01:46He didn't even know I'd gone to the hospital.
01:48Because he didn't care.
01:50All he cared about was Savannah leaving.
01:51And finding someone to punish for it.
01:53I took a breath.
01:55Set the pill bottle quietly on the shoe cabinet by the door.
01:58Then I turned and walked back into the rain.
02:00I couldn't tell the water on my face apart anymore.
02:04I didn't call him out.
02:06I made that decision the moment I got back in the car and turned the engine on.
02:09My hands were shaking, not from cold, from rage.
02:12But I told myself I couldn't blow up.
02:13Not yet.
02:14I knew Chase's reach.
02:16Half the league owed him favors, agents, coaches, sponsors, sports reporters.
02:20He was the face of the franchise, the ratings guaranteed, the owner's cash cow.
02:24If I walked back in there and threw that bottle in his face.
02:27I wouldn't just lose my job.
02:28I'd get blacklisted from the whole industry.
02:30A nutritionist who crosses the league's star quarterback?
02:33No one would touch me.
02:35The degree I spent seven years on, the papers I'd published, the case studies I'd built.
02:39All of it would be worthless.
02:40So I needed time.
02:42I drove back to my apartment, showered, changed, and practiced smiling in the mirror three times.
02:47Then I went back to his mansion and knocked.
02:51Got the meds.
02:52My voice as flat as a weather report.
02:54Traffic was bad.
02:56Sorry it took so long.
02:58Chase was in his wheelchair, watching me.
02:59Something flickered in his eyes, a brief moment of scrutiny.
03:03You're soaked.
03:04Go change.
03:05Don't want you getting sick.
03:06So considerate.
03:07So gentle.
03:09That's how he'd been with me for three years, a little kindness tossed in between the cruelty.
03:13I smiled and went upstairs.
03:14Over the next few days, I acted like nothing had changed.
03:17I kept mixing his supplements, pushing his wheelchair, picking up his late night calls.
03:22I even smiled more than usual, because I knew he was watching, checking to see if I'd figured it out.
03:27But every night, back in my room, I called my aunt in Switzerland.
03:31Five years ago, she'd asked me to go with her.
03:33I'd said no because I needed to take care of Chase.
03:36Her voice was older now, but still gentle.
03:38You've finally come to your senses?
03:41Yeah.
03:42You won't change your mind this time?
03:45No.
03:46I'll get you a new identity.
03:48Give me two weeks.
03:51I don't have two weeks.
03:53The 99th time is coming.
03:55She was quiet for a long moment.
03:57Be careful.
03:58The 99th came faster than I expected.
04:01That afternoon, Chase's text popped up while I was prepping his recovery meals in the kitchen.
04:05I dried my hands and opened it.
04:07Tonight, 9 p.m.
04:0935 Carson Street, Warehouse District.
04:11Left the meds there.
04:13Urgent.
04:14I stared at the screen.
04:1598 times before.
04:17Rain, errands, late nights, waiting in blazing hot parking lots, answering his drunk calls
04:21at 2 a.m.
04:22That was all punishment.
04:23All by design.
04:24What would the 99th be?
04:26I looked up the address.
04:28Abandoned warehouses.
04:29No cameras.
04:30No residents.
04:31Not even streetlights.
04:33Google Maps showed a row of metal doors, graffiti on the walls, broken glass on the ground.
04:37I took a breath and called my aunt, book me a flight for the day after tomorrow.
04:41Then I grabbed my keys and walked out the door.
04:45The warehouse district was on the south side of the city, past the old industrial zone and
04:49the abandoned railroad bridge.
04:51No other cars on the road.
04:53Streetlights thinned out until my headlights were the only thing illuminating the cracked
04:56pavement.
04:57The air smelled like rust and rotting wood.
04:59Number 35 was at the very end.
05:00I parked on the shoulder, grabbed the pill bottle.
05:03I knew now it was just vitamins, not painkillers, and walked into the alley.
05:07Water dripped from broken gutters onto my shoulders.
05:09My footsteps echoed between the walls.
05:12Each step felt like a heartbeat.
05:14Don't be afraid.
05:15After today you're free.
05:19He'll hurt you sure, but it'll pass a few days and it'll be over.
05:22I was trying to convince myself.
05:2498 times, the 99th would be the same.
05:27Just a worse location.
05:28I was wrong.
05:29I hadn't even made it to number 35 when they came out of the shadows.
05:334.
05:34No, 5.
05:35Their shadows stretched long under the single streetlight, like black vines growing out of
05:39the ground.
05:43I'm here to pick up Chase's meds.
05:48We know.
05:50He told us to take good care of you.
05:53Then everything happened fast.
05:56I was on the ground.
05:57Face against cold, wet concrete.
05:59The pill bottle rolled away.
06:02Clothes ripped.
06:03Shards digging into my palm.
06:06They laughed while they thumbed it.
06:08Said they needed it for proof.
06:10Don't worry.
06:12Nutritionist, huh?
06:13Not bad looking.
06:14Rich people play some twisted games.
06:16I didn't cry.
06:17I stared at the rusted steel beam above me and counted in my head.
06:201, 2, 3, 97, 98, 99.
06:26It was over.
06:27I lay on the cold ground for a long time.
06:30The rain stopped.
06:31Clouds parted, and moonlight spilled through.
06:34My arms were bruised.
06:35Blood under my fingernails.
06:37My lip was split.
06:38I could taste iron.
06:39I sat up slowly.
06:41Moving like a rusty machine learning how to work its joints again.
06:44This wasn't Chase.
06:45I knew that.
06:47However much Chase hated me, he wouldn't do this.
06:49He was cruel, but not this kind of cruel.
06:52His cruelty was cold, indirect, clean, make you wait in the rain, make you stay up all
06:56night, make you run errands, make you think he needed you.
06:59He wouldn't let anyone else touch me.
07:01Someone had used his name to do something much worse.
07:03But I didn't care who anymore.
07:0599 times.
07:06It was over.
07:09I went back to my apartment at dawn, dragging my bruised body through the door.
07:13In the bathroom, I stood under the shower and turned the water as hot as it would go.
07:17It scalded my skin, turned it red, but I didn't turn it down.
07:20I scrubbed and scrubbed until the bruises on my arms darkened to purple, until the water
07:23ran pink, then clear.
07:25Three hours later, I turned it off.
07:27The woman in the mirror looked like a stranger.
07:30Red rimmed eyes.
07:31Cracked lips.
07:32Cheekbones sharper than I remembered.
07:34I stared at her for a long time, then picked up my phone.
07:37Book me the earliest flight.
07:40My aunt didn't ask.
07:41Tomorrow morning, 8am.
07:42Connecting through Zurich.
07:44Okay.
07:45I pulled everything Chase had given me out of my closet.
07:47The signed jersey, his rookie year special edition, and he didn't have room in his closet
07:51anyway.
07:53Game tickets, everyone a box seat.
07:55But he never waited for me after.
07:57Birthday present, a watch he didn't like, the face scratched.
08:00All of it went into trash bags.
08:02Then I pulled out my phone and scrolled through three years of texts.
08:05I hit delete all.
08:06I pressed confirm.
08:08The screen went empty.
08:09I packed my bags, light, only the things I needed.
08:12No memories.
08:13No ties.
08:15Nothing to hold me back.
08:16On the way to the airport, I passed a bridge.
08:18The river below was running fast.
08:20I pulled over and walked to the railing.
08:22I held my phone one last time.
08:24Then I let go.
08:25The river swallowed it like it had never existed.
08:30Later, the police found my phone, my wallet, and a blood-stained jacket by the riverbank.
08:35I'd left the jacket on purpose, stuffed the pockets with rocks so it wouldn't float away.
08:39Derek told me later what happened when Chase got the news.
08:42She dares!
08:43Chase smashed the window in his office.
08:45Glass sprayed across Derek's shoes.
08:47He didn't move.
08:49Man, don't you think you went too far?
08:51Shut up!
08:52Chase sank back into his wheelchair, blood dripping from his fingers.
08:57She's not dead.
08:58This is her playing games.
09:00Cancel her cards.
09:01Freeze her social.
09:03Let's see how long she can hide.
09:04He didn't know I didn't need any of that anymore.
09:07I went to Switzerland.
09:08My aunt ran a small restaurant on Lake Lucerne.
09:10Cheese fondue and roasted potatoes.
09:12She gave me the attic room.
09:14The window faced the mountains.
09:16Every morning I opened my eyes to white peaks and blue sky.
09:18No one knew me there.
09:19No one knew who I was, what I'd been through.
09:22Slowly.
09:23The physical wounds closed, faded to pale white.
09:26The wounds inside didn't leave scars, just a hard crest that formed over them.
09:30Ugly, maybe, but it didn't hurt anymore.
09:32I went back to school.
09:33Stayed for my PhD.
09:35Three years.
09:36For three years.
09:37I didn't watch a single football game.
09:39Didn't open a sports channel.
09:41Didn't search anyone's name.
09:43I thought I'd forgotten.
09:46Three years later, I came back to the US as Dr. Maya.
09:49I was an associate professor at the University of Lausanne and the head nutrition consultant
09:53for a European football club.
09:54The NFL's annual combine invited me as a guest expert.
09:58You're the youngest expert we've ever had, the email said.
10:00I stared at the name on the screen, Dr. Maya, and felt a strange sense of unreality.
10:05The girl who'd had her phone crushed under a boot in a warehouse alley, and this woman
10:08with the PhD and the title, there was a long river between them.
10:11But I said yes.
10:12The combine was in Arizona.
10:14The desert sun was so bright it hurt to look at.
10:16I walked into the training facility in my white coat, wearing my credentials, and my
10:20heart was pounding.
10:21Not from nerves.
10:22Because I saw Chase.
10:24He wasn't in a wheelchair.
10:25He stood at the edge of the field, hands in his pockets, watching the rookies run drills.
10:29The muscles in his arms more defined than before.
10:32He'd lost weight.
10:33His jaw was sharper.
10:35A few gray hairs at his temples.
10:36He looked good.
10:38I walked toward him, face blank.
10:40Chase turned and saw me.
10:41He froze.
10:43Hands still in his pockets, but everything else stopped.
10:45His eyes went wide.
10:49I'm the keynote for today's nutrition seminar.
10:52Chase stared at my hand like he was seeing a ghost.
10:55You're not dead.
10:57Disappointed?
10:57I pulled my hand back and walked straight to the podium.
11:00The seminar ended an hour later.
11:02I turned off the projector, packed my notes, and started for the door.
11:07It swung open.
11:09Chase stood in the doorway.
11:10We need to talk.
11:13There's nothing to talk about.
11:14That wasn't me.
11:15I stopped and turned to face him.
11:17He stood in the doorway, shoulders slightly hunched, like a quarterback backed up against
11:21fourth down.
11:22There was something in his eyes I'd never seen before.
11:25Not anger.
11:26Not arrogance.
11:27Something softer.
11:28I know.
11:30You know, Derek reached out to my aunt afterward, wanted to apologize, but I stopped caring
11:35a long time ago.
11:36Then why did you disappear?
11:37Because 99 times was enough.
11:39Whatever happened that last night, the first 98 were you.
11:43The rain, the late nights, the errands, the 2 a.m. calls.
11:47You called my work punishment?
11:49You made me the punchline of a joke.
11:51Isn't that enough?
11:52You thought I jumped off that bridge.
11:55You never even looked for me.
11:56You just canceled my cards and froze my accounts and went back to your life.
12:00Three years.
12:02How long have you been standing?
12:04Two years.
12:06Congratulations.
12:07I turned and walked away.
12:09This time, he didn't follow.
12:12Derek asked me out for coffee a few days later.
12:15He looked older.
12:16Hairline receding.
12:18Crow's feet at the corners of his eyes.
12:20His laugh didn't come as easily as it used to.
12:22We sat on a patio in Scottsdale, the sun hot on the table.
12:25Steam rising from our cups.
12:27Derek told me everything.
12:29Savannah was behind the warehouse.
12:31After she and Chase got back together, she saw me as a threat.
12:34She'd gone through his phone, seen the texts, seen how he kept me on a leash.
12:38She knew Chase had this hold on me, even if she didn't fully understand it.
12:41So she paid some guys to take care of the problem.
12:44Permanently.
12:45When Chase found out, he put Savannah in prison himself.
12:49I know.
12:51You knew?
12:54I figured it out when you reached out to my aunt.
12:58Then why didn't you-
12:59Because it doesn't matter who set up the last one.
13:02The first 98 were his.
13:04And Derek, you were there for every single one.
13:06Every time he sent me out in the rain, you were right there laughing.
13:10Derek's face flushed.
13:11He dropped his eyes to his coffee.
13:13He's been looking for you for two years.
13:16Looking for what?
13:17To apologize?
13:18To make it up to me?
13:19He still loves you!
13:21I laughed.
13:22Not the polite kind.
13:23The kind that comes from somewhere deep.
13:24From the sheer absurdity of it.
13:25Derek, that man doesn't know what love is.
13:27He just can't stand losing.
13:30Derek stared at me for a long moment.
13:32Like he wanted to say something else.
13:33In the end, he just paid for my coffee and let me go.
13:39On the last day of the combine, I met Marcus.
13:42He was a sports scientist with another team, brought in to consult on the performance data.
13:46We ended up at the same coffee station.
13:48There was always a line at the combine coffee station.
13:50Everyone waiting for that shot of espresso to keep them going.
13:53You can't drink their instant either?
13:56I brought my own cold brew packs.
13:58I pulled a teabag-sized patch out of my pocket.
14:00Want one?
14:00A nutritionist who travels with cold brew?
14:03That's commitment.
14:04We started talking.
14:06Mitochondrial metabolism.
14:07The latest supplements.
14:09Intermittent fasting.
14:11Carb-loading protocols for marathoners.
14:13He talked fast, jumped between topics.
14:15But everything he said was backed by data.
14:17We stood by the coffee machine and talked for two hours.
14:20You're the first nutritionist I've met who can keep up with me.
14:22You're the first trainer I've met who doesn't eat hot dogs at halftime.
14:26He laughed, loud enough that people turned to look.
14:29He didn't seem to notice or care.
14:33We started dating.
14:34He knew about my past.
14:36Jason had told him.
14:37I didn't blame my cousin.
14:39He worried about me, wanted Marcus to understand what I'd been through.
14:42But Marcus never asked.
14:44On the nights when I woke up gasping, drenched in sweat, he just held me, didn't talk.
14:49Just rested his chin on my head and wrapped his arms tight so I could feel his heartbeat.
14:53I'm here.
14:55You're safe.
14:56He never asked who, never asked what happened, never asked why didn't you go to the police.
15:00He was just there.
15:02One night, a year later, he took me to Lake Lucerne.
15:05The same lake where my aunt's restaurant sat.
15:07Moonlight on the water, rippling like spilled silver.
15:09He knelt by the shore.
15:11Maya, I'm not asking you to forget the past.
15:13I'm asking you to let me be your future.
15:16The box in his hand held a simple ring.
15:18Silver band, no diamonds, no intricate designs.
15:21He said he'd looked for a long time before picking this one.
15:23Because it looked like me, simple, clean, nothing extra to prove anything.
15:27I cried.
15:28Not from sadness.
15:30Because I finally knew what it felt like to be loved.
15:34On the morning of our wedding, a package arrived.
15:37No return address.
15:38Postmarked from Texas three days earlier.
15:41I opened the brown paper envelope and pulled out a jersey, folded carefully.
15:45Chase's jersey, dark blue.
15:47His number and name on the back.
15:48The numbers were faded, the collar slightly pilled, like someone had handled it many times.
15:52I unfolded it and saw words written in marker.
15:55The handwriting was shaky, like the hand holding the pen had been trembling.
15:59I'm sorry.
16:00Be happy.
16:01The people from that night paid for what they did.
16:03No explanation.
16:04No, I still love you.
16:06No, give me another chance.
16:08No, we can start over.
16:09Just an apology.
16:10And a wish for happiness.
16:12I looked at it for a long time.
16:14Then I folded it and put it in the back of the closet.
16:17Who's that from?
16:18Marcus came up behind me, holding his bow tie.
16:20He still hadn't figured out how to tie the thing.
16:22Someone I knew a long time ago.
16:24Do you need to write back?
16:28No.
16:29I took his arm and straightened his tie for him.
16:31Time to go.
16:32The wedding was by Lake Lucerne.
16:34My aunt's restaurant was right there.
16:35She catered the whole thing.
16:37Cheese fondue, roasted potatoes, apple pie.
16:40No bridesmaids, no big production, no guest list of hundreds.
16:43Just my aunt, Marcus's family, a few close friends.
16:47The sun was perfect.
16:48The water was green, reflecting the snow on the mountains across the lake.
16:51A light breeze moved my dress.
16:53Marcus took my hand and led me across the grass.
16:56His palm was warm, his fingers long and strong, calluses at the knuckles from years of lifting.
17:01His hand felt nothing like Chase's.
17:03Chase's hands were always cold, even in a Florida summer.
17:06You okay?
17:08More than okay.
17:09I said, and squeezed his hand.
17:10I didn't need a big wedding to prove anything.
17:13I just needed someone who didn't call my care a punishment.
17:15When we said our vows, I looked into Marcus's eyes.
17:18They were brown and warm, like sunlight on an autumn afternoon.
17:21I said, I do.
17:23He said, I do.
17:24The wind came off the lake, carrying the scent of snow.
17:27In the distance, someone was flying a kite, a small red dot against the blue sky.
17:31I thought about that rainy night three years ago.
17:33The phone I threw in the river.
17:35The jerseys I burned.
17:36The cold concrete of the warehouse floor.
17:38All of it was behind me.
17:40What are you thinking about?
17:42I'm thinking whether I can get extra potatoes with my fondue tonight.
17:47You want extra potatoes with everything.
17:50Because they're good.
17:52Fine.
17:53I'll get you extra potatoes.
17:55He took my hand and led me toward the restaurant.
17:57The sun was warm on our faces.
17:59Our shadows stretched across the grass, overlapping.
18:02I didn't look back.
18:03The end.
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